New Delhi: Wasim Akram, the captain of Pakistan and the world’s greatest fast bowler, has made a big disclosure. Wasim Akram has revealed his dependence on cocaine after the end of his sporting career. Akram has elaborated on this in his autobiography- Sultan: A Memoir.
Some excerpts of this autobiography have been published in ‘The Times’ newspaper. Akram wrote in it that I loved to party. Fame and its culture in South Asia is tempting and corrupts you. You can go to 10 parties in one night. And I became a victim of this. After consuming it once or twice, I got used to it. According to Akram, he got addicted to drugs after retiring from international cricket. At the same time, after the death of his first wife Huma in the year 2009, his bad addiction ended.
Entered addiction in England
Wasim Akram wrote, “the worst thing was that I started relying on cocaine. It started spontaneously when I was offered it at a party in England. I started using cocaine continuously. Things got to the point where I felt I needed it to work. During this time I had become an unstable and deceptive person.”
It further read, “Huma often fell alone and talked about visiting her parents and siblings in Karachi. I refused because I enjoyed going to Karachi alone. I used to say that I was leaving for work but in fact I used to party for many days.”
Her wife found cocaine in his wallet
Akram further wrote, “one day Huma found a pack of cocaine in his wallet. Huma said, ‘You need help.’ I assumed it. This habit was getting worse and worse. Starting with one line, two would become, two would become four, four lines would become one gram and one to two grams.”
“I could not sleep or eat properly. I was ignoring my diabetes. This gave me a headache and I would become irritable. Like many drug addicts, I was happy to be exposed because it had become too tiring to hide,” it read.
Doctor turned out be a swindler
Akram writes in his autobiography, “I went to the doctor but he turned out to be a swindler. Instead of taking medicine, he was in a race to earn money by misleading the families. After this Akram again became a victim of this habit.”
‘My wife’s death…’
Akram further wrote, “I got very angry over this whole episode because my self-esteem was getting hurt. My self-esteem was hit but there was no dearth of comfort in my life. I even thought of getting divorced. I left for the 2009 Champions Trophy and started consuming again in Huma’s absence.”
Huma died suddenly in October 2009 after contracting mucormycosis (the more recent ‘black fungus’).
Turning point in Wasim Akram’s life
Akram wrote, “the last selfless, unknown contribution of Huma’s life was to get me rid of my drug problem. It was only because of his efforts that I was able to come out of this addiction. After Huma’s death, Akram remarried and has three children. Two boys are from the first marriage and a only daughter from the second marriage.”
Wasim Akram said in an interview with ‘The Times’ that he wrote this autobiography for his children. He said that I am a little restless about this book but after its publication everything will be fine. I am 56 years old now and I have been diabetic for 25 years and it does cause stress. It was hard to remember these things but I wanted to do this for my 25 and 21 year old son and 7 year old daughter.
